WHEN EVEN THE BUNNY RUNS OUT

of energy. It must be the Dog Days of Summer. Not even close. Since we had 110 degree days in May, it seems like these are the Dog Days, but we have a month or so before those hit. Just about the time school starts in the West.

When I talk to relatives and friends from other climes, they either laugh or invariably tell me they couldn't live in AZ in the Summer. They couldn't stand the heat. I explain about humidity, but 110 is still 110 degrees they counter.

Strange as it seems, the day before we left for San Diego, it was 114 and hot. But when I sat on the sand of Coronado Beach at 71 degrees, I perspired. Even with a nice ocean breeze. It's hard to explain. And I have never been hotter anywhere than at an evening baseball game in July at Busch Stadium.

On the old (thankfully gone) artificial turf, the temperature used to get 140 during the day. Players would soak their feet in ice when not on the field. I remember some put lettuce or cabbage in their shoes for cooling. So the players may have been hotter in the daytime. Not me. Even when our seats were 6 rows from the field.

But the heat can and does sap. It makes people old before their time. What I mean is we usually go to sleep by 9:30 and get up at 5 or 5:30, just to get in a 1 1/2 mile walk before the temperature rises. (Actually, I used the term we quite liberally since I'm still on the DL with a bad back.)

But overall, Az's home. Even if it wears me and the Energizer down.